Its inspectors have just begun working in the active war zone, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee said it hopes the award offers "strong support" to them as they face arduous and life-threatening tasks.

But the OPCW did not receive the prize primarily because of its work in Syria, committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland said. "It is because of its long-standing efforts to eliminate chemical weapons and that we are now about to reach the goal and do away with a whole category of weapons of mass destruction. That would be a great event in history, if we can achieve that."

Nevertheless, OPCW Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu said he wants the prize to inspire everyone to reach for peace in Syria.

JUST WATCHED

Chemical attack a 'war crime'

MUST WATCH

JUST WATCHED

Weapons inspectors face difficult task

MUST WATCH

Weapons inspectors face difficult task04:40

PLAY VIDEO

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners 95 photos

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize winners – The late Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel left the bulk of his fortune to create the Nobel Prizes to honor work in five areas, including peace. In his 1895 will, he said one part was dedicated to that person "who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses." The first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly in 1901 to Jean Henry Dunant, founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and French peace activist and economist Frédéric Passy.

Hide Caption

1 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize winners – Malala Yousafzai split the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with India's Kailash Satyarthi for their struggles against the suppression of children and for young people's rights. Yousafzai came to global attention after she was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 for her efforts to promote education for girls in Pakistan.

Hide Caption

2 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize winners – Satyarthi addresses the media at his office in New Delhi, India, after he and Yousafzai were announced as the Nobel Peace Prize winners on Friday, October 10.

Nobel Peace Prize – Former President Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

Hide Caption

15 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – Former United Nations Secretary General Koffi Annan, center, with French Forces commander Gen. Alain Pellegrini, right, review UNIFIL soldiers upon Annan's arrival to the U.N. peacekeeping base in the southern Lebanese town of Naqura, on August 29, 2006. Annan and the United Nations won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001.

Hide Caption

16 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000.

Hide Caption

17 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – A flag bearing the logo of Medecins sans Frontieres (also known as Doctors Without Borders) stands in the middle of a makeshift clinic at Kenya's Dadaab refuge on October 16, 2011. Medicins sans Frontieres won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.

Hide Caption

18 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – David Trimble, left, and John Hume hold up their diplomas and medals after receiving their Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, on December 10, 1998. Trimble and Hume won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998.

Hide Caption

19 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – Jody Williams sits in front of donated shoes symbolizing landmine victims during Ban Landmines Week on March 8, 2001, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Williams and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997.

Hide Caption

20 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, left, and Jose Ramos-Horta shake hands at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo on December 9,1996, prior to the awarding ceremony. Belo and Ramos-Horta won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996.

Hide Caption

21 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – Joseph Rotblat and the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995.

Nobel Peace Prize – South African National Congress President Nelson Mandela, left, and South African President F.W. de Klerk shake hands in Oslo, Norway, on December 10, 1993, after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Nobel Peace Prize – U.N. soldiers unload their gear from a C-130 cargo plane as the U.N. observer team policing the Iran-Iraq ceasefire arrives in Baghdad. The United Nations Peacekeeping Forces won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988.

Hide Caption

28 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – Costa Rican President-elect Oscar Arias waves to supporters after receiving the ceremonial sash at the National Stadium in San Jose on May 8, 2006. Arias won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987.

Hide Caption

29 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel appears at a press conference at the United Nations on October 27, 2004 in New York. Wiesel won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.

Hide Caption

30 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – Members of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War clasp hands on October 11, 1985, at the group's Boston headquarters after the organization was awarded the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. The doctors are, from left, Eric Chivian, co-founder; John Pastore, secretary; Sidney Alexander, president of the U.S. affiliate group; and James Muller, co founder.

Nobel Peace Prize – Former Polish President Lech Walesa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983.

Hide Caption

33 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – Alva Myrdal, right, and Alfonso Garcia Robles won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982, having played a central role in the United Nations' disarmament negotiations.

Hide Caption

34 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize winners – Refugees are registered in Somalia in November 1981. The Nobel Peace Prize that year was awarded to the United Nations' refugee agency, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Hide Caption

35 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – Adolfo Perez Esquivel, who has devoted his life to the struggle for human rights, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980.

Hide Caption

36 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – Mother Teresa, founder of the Missionaries of Charity order, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

Nobel Peace Prize – Amnesty International won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977.

Hide Caption

39 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan, co-founders of the Community for Peace People, share a joke while leading a peace rally of Catholic and Protestant woman in the Protestant Shankill Road, in Belfast, on August 28, 1976. Williams and Corrigan won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976.

Nobel Peace Prize – Dr. Norman Borlaug holds up stalks of his specifically crossbred wheat, designed to be more disease-resistant. Borlaug won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970.

Hide Caption

45 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – The International Labour Organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1969. David Morse was the director general of the organization from 1948-70.

Hide Caption

46 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – Rene Cassin, the French jurist and a deputy chairman of the NATO committee for human rights, holds up a telegram after being notified of winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968.

Hide Caption

47 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – Children drink milk handed out by UNICEF workers in Moundou, Chad, on October 26, 1965. UNICEF won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965.

Hide Caption

48 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize winners – The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. displays his Nobel Peace Prize medal in December 1964 in Oslo, Norway. Then 35, King was the youngest man to have received the prize. The U.S. civil rights leader was slain in 1968.

Hide Caption

49 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – A group of Red Cross rescue workers hold a capsule used to supply food and beverages to three trapped miners at an iron ore mine near Lengede, Germany, on October 28, 1963. The League of Red Cross Societies won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1963.

Hide Caption

50 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – American chemist Linus Pauling won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962 for his campaigning for a nuclear test ban treaty. Pauling also won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1954.

Nobel Peace Prize – Georges Pire, right, receives the Nobel Peace Prize in 1958 for his efforts to help European refugees leave their camps and return to a life of freedom and dignity.

Hide Caption

55 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – Canadian politician Lester Bowles Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for his active role in attempting to prevent war.

Hide Caption

56 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – North Korean refugees cross the Naktong River in South Korea on August 6, 1950, just a short time before the beginning of the conflict between North and South Korea. The U.N. forces in Korea had set a time limit of 15 hours for crossing the river. In 1954, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the UNHCR, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Hide Caption

57 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – Gen. George Catlett Marshall of the U.S. Army won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953.

Nobel Peace Prize – Ralph Bunche won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950 for his "unremitting campaign to develop man's ability to live in peace, harmony and mutual understanding with his fellows," according to the Nobel Committee.

Hide Caption

61 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – Lord John Boyd Orr, a British nutritionist and health campaigner, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1949.

Hide Caption

62 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – A family begins to assimilate in a new community on August 4, 1941, after being rehabilitated by the American Quakers and the Unitarian service committee, after fleeing with thousands of others from war-torn Lorraine, France, to begin a new life. The Friends Service Council (The Quakers) and the American Friends Service Committee won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947.

Hide Caption

63 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – John Raleigh Mott, left, and Emily Greene Balch won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946. Mott won for his contributions to the creation of a peace-promoting religious brotherhood across national boundaries. Balch won for unrelenting efforts to fight for peace.

Hide Caption

64 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1945.

Hide Caption

65 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – American Red Cross workers check packages for troops fighting in Leyte, Philippines, on November 20,1944. The International Committee of the Red Cross won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1944.

Hide Caption

66 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – The Nansen International Office for Refugees won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1938.

Hide Caption

67 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – Viscount Cecil of Chelwood won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1937 for promoting peace at a time of war.

Hide Caption

68 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – Carlos Saavedra Lamas won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1936 for his personal contribution to the cause of peace in Latin America.

Nobel Peace Prize – Swedish Bishop Nathan Söderblom won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1930. Söderblom was the first clergyman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Hide Caption

73 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – Frank Billings Kellogg, an American diplomat, speaks after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in a ceremony at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway. The award commemorates his origination of the Kellogg Peace Pact, which was signed by European nations and the United States in Paris. Kellogg won the Peace Prize in 1929.

Hide Caption

74 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – French educator Ferdinand Buisson was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1927 with Ludwig Quidde, right, who founded the League for Human Rights.

Hide Caption

75 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – German politician and industrialist Gustav Stresemann, left, and French politician Aristide Briand received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926.

Hide Caption

76 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – British statesman and Secretary of State for the Colonies Joseph Chamberlain, left, and American statesman and financier Charles Gates Dawes won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925.

Nobel Peace Prize – Members of the Red Cross Motor Corps, all wearing masks to protect against the further spread of the influenza epidemic, carry a patient on a stretcher into an ambulance in St. Louis in October 1918. The International Committee of the Red Cross won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1917.

Hide Caption

82 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – Belgian diplomat Henri La Fontaine, who served as president of the Permanent International Peace Bureau, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1913.

Hide Caption

83 of 95

Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners95 photos

Nobel Peace Prize – American jurist and statesman Elihu Root, who served as U.S. Secretary of War from 1899-1904, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1912 for his promotion of international arbitration.

"I truly hope that this award ... will help broader efforts to achieve peace in that country and(ease) the suffering of its people," Uzumcu said told reporters Friday afternoon.

Uzumcu, saying he was "pleasantly surprised" by the award and acknowledging it was a great honor, added that "events in Syria have been a tragic reminder that there remains much work yet to be done."

"The recognition that the peace prize brings will spur us to untiring effort, even stronger commitment and greater dedication," he said.

U.S. President Barack Obama congratulated the group. A White House statement said "this award honors those who make it their life's work to advance this vital goal."

"Today's award recognizes that commitment, and reinforces the trust and confidence the world has placed in the OPCW, Director-General Ahmed Uzumcu, and the courageous OPCW experts and inspectors taking on the unprecedented challenge of eliminating Syria's chemical weapons program," the statement said.

A team from the OPCW and the United Nations has been in Syria since October 1, and it oversaw the first destruction of chemical weapons equipment this week.

On Sunday, Syrian personnel used "cutting torches and angle grinders to destroy or disable a range of items," the OPCW said. "This included missile warheads, aerial bombs and mixing and filling equipment."

Given the danger the inspectors face, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon this week described the joint OPCW-U.N. mission in Syria as "an operation the likes of which, quite simply, have never been tried before."

The joint mission is tasked by a U.N. Security Council resolution with eliminating all chemical weapons in the country by midyear 2014.

Ban has set out the three phases of the mission: establishing an initial presence and verifying the Syrian government's declaration of its stockpiles; overseeing the destruction of chemical weapons; and verification of the destruction of any and all chemical weapons-related programs or materials.

The team is in Syria is made up of 35 members, but the OPCW is preparing to deploy a second team to strengthen the effort. The group plans to grow the team to 100.

JUST WATCHED

Former inspector: Timeline not practical

MUST WATCH

JUST WATCHED

Syria begins to destroy chemical weapons

MUST WATCH

Syria begins to destroy chemical weapons01:19

PLAY VIDEO

On August 21, a chemical attack outside Damascus led the United States and its allies to call for military intervention in Syria's civil war -- a confrontation that was defused in mid-September, when Damascus agreed to a U.S.-Russian plan to give up its chemical weapons stockpile.

The United States estimates the Syrian arsenal at about 1,000 tons of blister agents and nerve gas. The Syrians provided an initial declaration of its stockpile and must submit a plan for destroying the weapons by October 27, Uzumcu said.

Nobel justification

The award to the OPCW was intended in part as a message to countries still harboring chemical weapons to get rid of them, Jagland said.

In awarding the prize, the Norwegian committee highlighted the widespread use of chemical weapons in World War I and efforts to stop it since.

In 1925, the Geneva Convention prohibited their use. But during World War II, the Nazi dictatorship under Adolf Hitler employed them to extinguish the lives of millions of concentration camp inmates in the Holocaust.

The Geneva Convention left some loopholes open, though, the Norwegian committee said. It does not prohibit the production and storage of chemical weapons.

But in 1997, an international convention banning that as well was instituted.

About the OPCW

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague, in the Netherlands, is the independent implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, an international arms control treaty.

The Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force in April 1997, at which point 87 states had ratified it, and the work of the OPCW to implement its provisions began at that point.

According to the treaty's wording, signatories are "determined for the sake of all mankind, to exclude completely the possibility of the use of chemical weapons, through the implementation of the provisions of this Convention."

Sixteen years later, more than 100 additional states have ratified the treaty. In September, Syria became the latest nation to ask to join the convention. It is due to enter into force in Syria on October 14, when it will become the 190th member state.

Peace prize

In the lead-up to the prize announcement Friday, the global media speculated that an individual would win, possibly Congolese physician Denis Mukwege, who treats victims of gang rape, or Malala Yousafzai, the teenage education activist from Pakistan whom a Taliban assassin shot for her work to promote education for girls.

Malala appeared to be the front-runner in headlines around the world.

CNN's Monita Rajpal asked Jagland why she did not win.

"Fortunately, we have many good candidates every year, actually this year, more than 250. And the woman you mentioned, Malala, is an outstanding woman, but we never comment on why she or others didn't get the prize," he said. "The right answer is that she didn't get the prize because OPCW got it. She and others will probably be candidates in the years to come."

A Twitter account in Malala's name sent out a message congratulating the OPCW and thanking it for its work. In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, which is to air at 7 p.m. Sunday, Malala said it might be premature for her to receive the Nobel Peace Prize this early in her life.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated the OPCW, saying it has "greatly strengthened the rule of law in the field of disarmament and non-proliferation."

"From the battlefields to the laboratories to the negotiating table, the United Nations is honored to work hand-in-hand with the OPCW to eliminate the threat posed by chemical weapons for all people and for all time," Ban said Friday.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also voiced congratulations. He highlighted the organization's role in Syria.

"The Nobel Committee has rightly recognized their bravery and resolve to carry out this vital mission amid an ongoing war in Syria," he said.

Last year, the Norwegian committee awarded the peace prize to the European Union as it grappled with the worst crisis since its founding -- devastating debt and the threat of disintegration.

The award was a salute to the struggling 27-nation union for its work in promoting democracy and reconciliation since World War II.

Other large organizations that have won it include the United Nations, Doctors Without Borders, U.N. peacekeeping forces, the U.N. atomic energy agency, the Red Cross and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

The Peace Prize is the fifth Nobel Prize to be awarded this week, preceded by honors in medicine, physics, chemistry and literature.

The final Nobel Prize, recognizing achievement in the field of economics, will be awarded Monday.